Photographic ear identification system



Filed may 16,1958

lll l ll- INVENTOR MANUEL ZIMBEROFF' =T5 BY M a W W ATTORNEY [that shown in FIG. 2; and

*rHoroGRAPrncEAR IDENTIFICATION t SYSTEM M 1 Manuel Zimberolf, Nursery ldenti Foto C0., Inc.,

; 2308 Lincoln Ave., Chicago 14, Ill.

Filed May' l6, 19 58, Ser. No. 735,858 6 Claims. (Cl. 95-11) This invention is an improvement in-the system; for I identifying humans photographically' by'making a photographic record of a human ear in conjunction withra measuring device for orienting, with respect to such de' vigs e,various personal characteristics of the ear, as set-*foith in my parent co-pending application Serial No. 628,922 filed December 17, 1956, now abandoned, of which the present application is a continuation-in-part; 1

and particularly, to a further improved measuring device useful in the. making of: such records ofi'dentification.

; As set forth in my parent application, this system, While useful in identification of humans of all ages, is

" particularly usefulin identification of humans'in extreme youth, such as newborn babies. Newborn infants are most difiicult to permanently identify in permanent records," reliable forth-at individuals identification in subsequent years following the early formation of the record.

In'the past the identification has been by making of foot prints of the infant and sometimes ffinger prints. However, in the newborn baby, discounting the possible contamination of the infant in making such foot or finger prints i application of commercial inks. or contactwith --recordpaper to which the print must beapplied, as well aiazasa Patented Sept. 3, 1963 ic e auditory canal and curves outward to the edge, that first portion being lettered Al, the upper rounded rim portion 'is'A2 and that continues into the rim portion comprising the back of the ear A3. The lower lobe or lobule portion 'is lettered B. The center portion adjacent the base is called the'tragus' or corner of the ear and is lettered The portion just above the lobe and forming the bottom-of the shell is lettered D and is called the antitragus. Beginning from the antitragus is another opposite inner helical portion called the antihelix, lettered E1;

and at its lower portion in back of the central opening or auditory canal of the ear is E2 called the lowerpart of the 'antihelix. The upper antihelix E1 further divides --into an upper branch E3 and a lower branch E4. The

two helices A and E,'*bound between them a longitudinal "furrow at the rear lettered F and an, upper finger furrow .G." Finally, a central portion, called the shell of the ear which leads into the auditory canal, is lettered H.

v This latter is sometimes called the concha or conch.

as the difliculty of handling of squirming'infants to me- I chanically produce such. record, even then" a perfect foo-t or finger'print'record of the newborn infant is unreliable for its identification. This is because the newborn infant does 'not have either in fingers or .toesadequately dveloped whorls "and ridges which will suffice for reliable identifications. Thus, even where a perfect print of fingers or toes i's' takjeny only about 25 reliableidentifications are produced ini finger or foot printingcf infants.

" 9 ,Further' description and discussion of the 'systemare -made-in conjunction with the drawings herewith in which arerillustrated'without intending to-be, limited in the practice of this inventionto the exact illustrations,;im-

' proved measuring, devices useful in'photographing of the ear wherein FIG. l'is an enlarged ear delineated by markings into different areas havinguseful characteristics; for identification;

: ,FIGQZ illustrates my improved ear measuring jdevice placed/about aninfants ear for purposes ofiphotographp r ing vthesame; I M v :FIG 3 illustrates the camera and identifying'gdevi ce infposition showing the method of photographing;

E16 4 is aislightly modified measuring devicefrom As thus described;it will be noted that there are nu- ;merous helical prominences, furrows of different shapes a and contourlwhich, as subdivided by letters, represent different areas of th'e'ear. It is these diiferent curves,

prominences, etc, which serveas'a basis for identifying the peculariti-es of the ear and which in combination comprise a group'of ear anomalies-which would not be "duplicated, but in fact serve to-identify each individual.

Mostimportant, the human ear, while from earliest inj fancy up to the age of from 3 to 9, tends to grow in size, does not change in'ssuch individual characteristics. Thus, a: permanent record ofthe individual ear serves reliably to-identify'the individual and such record may be taken from earliest infancy and relied on foridentification in v vice, is made available as a permanent record of the ear .thevl-ater years since the ear does not change sufficiently to afifect the reliabilityof such identification.

According to the present system, the permanent record may be made from earliest birth, photographically in conjunction with a measuring instrument having spaced indicia whereby the positioning of one or more of the several ear anomalies with respect to such'measuring dephotographed in conjunction therewith, That photograph serves to show the measured relative positions of the various earl-anomalies as useful individual identifying characteristics. For this purpose the newborn infant has its ear photographed in conjunction with the meas- 1 uring device as shown in FIG. 2 orFIG. 4 hereof.

The measuring device of FIG. 2 comprises a transparent plastic pane 10 having a series of horizontal-and vertical rows of smal-lopaque such as black dots.12 disposed thereon. These dots are so small that they will not, in

themselves, obscure any significant area of the canto be photographed through the transparent sheet upon which they are mounted. However, theyare large enough preselected distance apart which may be varied, within FIGS. 5A, B, G and-l) illustrate diifefentgeneral types 'ofears;

v v 1: As indicated, the system o'f the pre's'entinventionrelies upon the morphology of, the ear to make a permanent identification. The humanear, either in the shaperand arrangementioftlie cartilagenous projections, auricular appendages contour of the outer ear and lobes, in various other individual ear anomalies, serve as a much more reliable identification of the'individualbaby or ideutifica: "tion of the adult. Whilevarious earanomalies tendto in'qfamilies, yet there are identifiable differences in run eachihdividual. Mor' ear isv subdivided as lettered in FIG. I1. ,For instance, the outer edge?v or. rim' of; the ear,- sornetinres called' a articularly, for that kind ct -identification the .to. appearin the final photograph. They are disposed a the principles of this invention, from about A; to /2 inch,

7 :preferably about to A of an inch apart as shown,

horizontally .-The sheet of transparent plastic film 10- havingthe or vertically in either direction from dot to .dot.

c regularly spaced dots 12 thereon, preferably has a vertical Yhorizontalrow, may also be present. However, I prefer and/or 16, when the latter is used, serve to align the v helix,:b egins at a-narrow portionfalmost,just-abovethe i dots along'avertical or horizontal graphicalaxis for centerline 14 through the dots appearing in that vertical center line for alignment of the plastic pane and dots therein along .a vertical line 14. If desired, a horizontal axis line shown in dotted line position in the horizontal axis line interconnecting the dots in that approximate to omit such in the mostpractical form. These lines 14 upon infants has not heretofore been practically reliable or conveniently made. The system may be operated in the nursery under completely antiseptic or therapeutic conditions without danger of contamination of a sterile nursery and baby. Moreover, it may be applied by hospital personnel using sterile photographic equipment, for instance, such as shown in US. Patent 2,697,392. Particularly improved photographic measuring devices are described which allow accurate identification of the peculiarities of an earas Well as their orientation to identify such peculiarities in specific regions of the ear.

Certain modifications of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art and it is accordingly intended that the drawings and description herein given be regarded as illustrative and not limiting, except as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. The method of identifying an individual human comprising mounting a measuring instrument, comprising a transparent film having marked thereon a regular pattern of visible linearly spaced opaque'indicia significant to measure spaced human ear characterizing details, in linear measuring position with respect to the ear of the individual to be identified and then photographing the ear of said individual in a, manner to clearly photoprint characterizing details with the measuring instrument visibly associated therewith.

2. The method of identifying individual humans comprising mounting an opaque card-like frame over substantially only the ear of the individual, said frame having a Window approximating the size of the said ear and through which the ear is substantially completely visible, a transparent plastic film covering said window and secured to said frame, said transparent filmhaving marked thereon a regularly spaced pattern of visible measuring indicia throughout the surface of said film in straight parallel rows significant to measure spacedliuman ear characterizing details, and photographing the ear of said individual through said transparent film in a manner to clearly photoprint characterizing details of said ear with the measuring instrument visibly associated therewith whereby the indicia appear as regular markings over the ear surface in the photograph and serve to measure the positions in the ear of the said characterizing details.

3., The method of identifying individual humans comprising mounting an opaque card-like frame over the ear of the individual, said frame having a window approximating the size of the said ear and through which only the ear is substantially completely visible, a transparent plastic film covering said window and secured to said frame, said transparent film having marked thereon a regularly spaced pattern of visible measuring indicia throughout the surface of said film in concentric circles significant to measure spaced human ear characterizing details, and photognaphing the ear of said individual through said transparent film in a manner to clearly photoprint characterizing details of said ear with the measuring instrument visibly associated therewith whereby the indicia appear tElS regular markings over the ear surface in the photograph and serve to measure the positions in the ear of the said characterizing details.

4. The method of identifying an individual human infant comprising mounting a measuring instrument having visible linear spaced indicia significant of spaced human ear characteristics in linear measuring position near the ear of the individual andphotographing the ear with the measuring instrument visibly associated therewith, whereby to photographically orient individual ear characteristics in relation to said spaced measuring indicia.

5. The method of forming a record useful for identifying individual infants comprising mounting a linear measuring instrument having visible linear spaced indicia significant of spaced individual ear characteristics thereon near to and oriented to measure linearly the position of natural markings on the ear of the individual infant and then photographing the infants ear and measuring instrument.

6. The method of photographically producing an identifying record of an infant comprising mounting about the ear of said infant a measuring frame, said frame having visible linear spaced indicia near the inner edge thereof, and photographing said ear with said frame mounted thereabout.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 647,608 Pietzner Apr. 17, .1900 689,361 Moe Dec. 17, 1901 752,617 De Pue Feb. 16, 1904 865,418 Moe Sept. 10, 1907 1,937,831 McCollum Dec. 5, 1933 2,006,774 *Ohlsson July 2, 1935 2,007,589 Williams July 9, 1935 2,048,879 Moran July 28, 1936 2,339,657 Smith Jan. 18, 1944 2,344,823 Landis et al. Mar. 21, 1944 2,557,428 Grostic June 19, 1951 2,664,780 Waller Jan. 5, 1954 2,830,512 Nagel Apr. 15, 1958 OTHER REFERENCES Personal Identification, by Wentworth et al.; pages 66 to 68 cited; published 1932. 

1. THE METHOD OF IDENTIFYING AN INDIVIDUAL HUMAN COMPRISING MOUNTING A MEASURING INSTRUMENT, COMPRISING A TRANSPARENT FILM HAVING MARKED THEREON A REGULAR PATTERN OF VISIBLE LINEARLY SPACED OPAQUE INDICIA SIGNIFICANT TO MEASURE SPACED HUMAN EAR CHARACTERIZING DETAILS, IN LINEAR MEASURING POSITION WITH RESPECT TO THE EAR OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO BE IDENTIFIED AND THEN PHOTOGRAPHING THE EAR OF SAID INDIVIDUAL IN A MANNER TO CLEARLY PHOTOPRINT CHARACTERIZING DETAILS WITH THE MEASURING INSTRUMENT VISIBLY ASSOCIATED THEREWITH. 